THE MIRACLE.

St. John of Kronstadt was not only a physician of souls but of the body too. A young man tells how his father became sick with cancer of the throat. The doctor, an eminent throat specialist called Simanovsky, gave the father only ten days to live. It was Christmas and instead of a festive atmosphere at home there was only sadness. There was no Christmas tree and everyone in the household, including the children went about in silence or spoke in hushed tones.

On the first day of Christmas, the father got up from his bed and with great difficulty gave presents to the children. He was silent and obviously in great pain and distress. It so happened that St. John had just returned to Kronstadt from one of his many trips. A telegram was sent to him immediately. Five days later, St. John arrived and went straight to the bedroom of the sick man.

St. John took one look at the father and asked why they had not informed him before. Had he known he would have brought the Holy Mysteries so that the sick man could have communed.

Pausing for a while, St. John suddenly asked the sick man whether he believed in the power of God that he could help him. The father nodded affirmatvely.

St. John ordered the sick man to open his mouth. The saint breathed three times cross-wise into the man's mouth. Then he banged his fist on a small table that held various medicines, so that some fell onto the floor. "Throw these away. You will not need them!"

The he told the sick man to come to Kronstadt tomorrow where he would commune him. Later that night when Simanosky came to see his patient, he was told that the sick man would travel to Kronstadt the next morning. The doctor considered this to be madness saying that he would probably die on the way. It was in the middle of winter and it would be necessary to travel from Oranianbaum to Kronstadt later that day.

St. John came to the sick man in his apartment and communed him. For a further two days he stayed in Kronstadt and then returned home. Simanovsky was stunned. New skin had suddenly grown over the former lesions in the throat and apart from the patient's voice, which was weak, the cancer had completely disappearec. Simanovsky in the hearing of everyone present declared that this had never been seen before. It was non other than a miracle.

Thus took place the miraculous healing of the young boy's father through the prayers of St. John. The father lived for a further twenty five years.